November 2002

ANYONE concerned that Hill Republicans aren’t taking the 2002 elections seriously enough can stop worrying: A 23-page strategy memo—from Hillary Clinton’s Senate campaign—on how Democrats get out the vote has become mandatory reading among GOP operatives. A GOP looking to Hillary for political pointers is a GOP that will leave no stone unturned in its quest to preserve its House majority and recapture the Senate.

And give Hillary her due: While the memo makes for dry reading, it lays out with great clarity some things the Democrats are doing right—and that Republicans must do right to win next year’s Senate races. GOP strategist Curt Anderson summarizes the memo’s message as the importance of person-to-person contact; he contrasts Hillary’s emphasis on engaging local community leaders—and tapping volunteers to work their neighborhoods—with recent Republican efforts that, he says, amounted to “placing phone calls from ten states away, and sending bad direct mail.”

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Kate O'Beirne

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ANYONE concerned that Hill Republicans aren’t taking the 2002 elections seriously enough can stop worrying: A 23-page strategy memo—from Hillary Clinton’s Senate campaign—on how Democrats get out the vote has become mandatory reading among GOP operatives. A GOP looking to Hillary for political pointers is a GOP that will leave no stone unturned in its quest to preserve its House majority and recapture the Senate.

And give Hillary her due: While the memo makes for dry reading, it lays out with great clarity some things the Democrats are doing right—and that Republicans must do right to win next year’s Senate races. GOP strategist Curt Anderson summarizes the memo’s message as the importance of person-to-person contact; he contrasts Hillary’s emphasis on engaging local community leaders—and tapping volunteers to work their neighborhoods—with recent Republican efforts that, he says, amounted to “placing phone calls from ten states away, and sending bad direct mail.”